Meet Bonita

Meet Bonita. Need a bone? Bone-need-a has plenty.

I bought the skeleton to be part of my Halloween decor and have been having fun with her for two weeks. Originally, I was going to change her location and pose for my grandkids, much like Elf on the Shelf. I don't see them on a scheduled basis, but they live nearby and am fortunate to see them often.

After sharing the photo from the previous post on Facebook, the positive feedback led to another day and another. I am now posting Bonita stories (a sentence or two) and a new picture daily. It was suggested she should have her own FB page but I don't want to log in and out all the time, remembering her password as well as my own. 😉 Also, I've seen too much ugliness on all social media platforms to make Bonita's page public. If I'm going to limit her exposure on FB, she can share my page although it is rather sad that Bonita's life is more interesting than my own!

 

The captions in the collage are summaries of the stories on Facebook. This past weekend was the local high school's homecoming game on Friday and dance on Saturday. My neighbors had a party on Friday to watch the game and were disappointed that Bonita didn't come. Seriously? Yes, seriously! See what I mean about her social life?!!

The following day I told them she was grounded because she took my car without permission and I caught her not wearing a seat belt!

She forgot to take her keys when she went to the dance and had to wait for me to come downstairs to let her in. She did make curfew but I wasn't happy about the whiff of Formeldahyde on her breath. Her date was a guy named Frank N. Stein. I wasn't too happy about that but she told me he has a good heart and I should look past his appearance.

When I wasn't worrying about her, I did get some crafting done but I can't show items until they've been delivered. 

I hope others have as much fun in their lives as I do mine. You can't always wait for someone to bring fun to you, you have to make it yourself and then you find it is catchy. Kindness is the same way.  Spread some love and laughter today, even if you never step outside your door. 

Manic Monday or What Flavor is Crazy?

It's just another manic Monday

I wish it was Sunday

'Cause that's my fun day

My I don't have to run day

It's just another manic Monday

You wouldn't think retirement would still have Manic Mondays, but you'd be wrong. Mine have been crazy for months now, but each week they have been a different flavor. Some are sweet, a few have been bitter. I'm not sure what to label today's yet, only that it is crazy. What flavor is crazy?

It has been raining hard for hours with more to come. Where was all of this during the summer months when my lawn was dying? My house is built on a slab and I'm not having trouble with water. Both of my sons have had water in their basements in the past. Both have had repairs that should prevent this repeating, but this much rain makes them twitchy. Son #1 is going to Son #2's house to get a pump from the garage to have on hand in case he has a problem. Son #2 got to work okay but his car quit after parking. 

As for me, I'm not having problems but an unexpected phone call this morning led to a painter coming today to paint the bedroom, bathroom and closet doors. This didn't happen when the rooms were painted due to unusual circumstances. The weather prevented the painter from being elsewhere today so the rain cloud over me has a silver lining. 

The items on the To-Do List that I thought I would tackle can wait until tomorrow, but this has happened so frequently, I need to just pencil in Mondays with "expect the unexpected".  I may be picking up a grandchild after school if a basement takes on water. I may be picking up a son from work if the car problem isn't remedied. I may just have to sit and knit or read a book while waiting to see what happens next. That isn't very manic, is it? 

It is always good to look for the silver lining. Remember when we had to wait on dial-up before we could post anything? Bonita remembers!

Where have all the bloggers gone?

Sing along to the tune of  Where Have All the Flowers Gone? but substitute Bloggers for Flowers.

I've been remiss for a long time for multiple reasons but I hope to improve during the month of October. October 1st is a Monday, so new week, new month, new goals, right? Nothing too lofty, just improving on previous days and finding a groove that isn't a rut.

First of all, here is a simple card completed as a birthday card and now in the mail. The stamp used for the card was from Altenew's Dearest Friend stamp set. I used Zig Clean Color markers on watercolor paper. The spattering was intentional, done with Distress Oxide ink and water mixed on an acrylic block and flicked around the floral image.

The banner on the envelope flap is from Swing Borders by Mama Elephant, the lettering done by hand. 

I had another family birthday recently among the great-nephews and one great-niece. This time it was the great niece and she truly is great. I give them cash, but never a check or just bills in a card. Search this blog for Money as Gifts to see other presentations. There are many ways to create a money lei. I've seen directions for as few as three bills per flower to seven. If this inspires you, look up cash lei and decide which directions will work best for you. I used green curling ribbon to tie the flowers onto a dollar store lei, a leftover from a luau party a few years ago. 

I love Halloween, both the macabre and the whimsical, heavier on the whimsy. I don't see my grandchildren daily because school seems to be important and gets in the way. 😉 That doesn't stop me from repositioning my friend Bonita every day in case the kidlets do come over. Bonita's name is pronounced Bone-needa, reversing the syllables would be Need a Bone said as a question Need a Bone? or perhaps as an emergency I NEED a BONE! although I'm not sure what that emergency might be. I digress. Often.

Today she is guarding the stairs and reminding me not to go upstairs empty-handed. She could help out instead of being bossy, but many things slip right through her fingers.

I do admire her slender thighs but I'm not willing to eat as few calories as she does.

My kind of WeirDough

I followed Jennifer McGuire's directions for a Peek-a-boo card (Click here), the Favorite Puperoni stamp set from Simon Says Stamp (Click here), and various Copic markers to create this fun card.

You can see how this card opens and the second image (in my case, the WeirDough greeting) slides into place on Jennifer's site.

Home from Alaska

If anyone had told me years ago that I would visit both Hawaii and Alaska, I would have rolled my eyes and said "sure" in my best sarcastic voice, but I have done just that. I visited Hawaii with my husband and good friends in 2012, and now I've seen part of Alaska with one son and a group of friends in August.

The trip was a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Sea. I cruised twice on Carnival ships in the 1990's, on Norwegian in 2012 and on Disney in 2016. Carnival may be different today, but based on my experiences, Carnival was #2, Norwegian was #3, Royal Caribbean was last in my overall experience and Disney was far ahead of everyone in the #1 position. It wouldn't be fair to compare every part of the cruise experience when over 20 years have passed since the first Carnival cruise. Some things about that will always stand out because it was our first cruise. I am not going to bash anything about Royal Caribbean or staying in a home in Vancouver through Airbnb. Everyone's taste and expectations vary. There wasn't any one thing wrong with a capital W on either the cruise or the house in Vancouver the night before the cruise, I simply won't use either company again. Maybe it is true that we get set in our ways as we age. All I know is that I have certain expectations and want to relax when on vacation.

There is beauty in every state, province, island, and neighborhood I've visited. Alaska was certainly no exception. Most of the excursions were in ports that featured rugged outdoorsy events. That is so not me, but neither is an endless line of stores selling items labeled "Alaska" with made in China or the Phillippines on their labels, nor the high-end jewelry stores. Personally, if I am buying something pricey, I'd rather buy it close to home in case there is a problem.

What were the best parts of the vacation?

 

Towel creatures appeared a few evenings.

This music was lively but sadly the actual shows and the comedian were not. 

Lots of peaceful views of water and sky, nearly always with clouds. Alaska has precipitation 300 days per year. Flowers were gorgeous. My baskets at home are fried despite daily watering.

When it came to eating, lunch at The Twisted Fish in Juneau and lunch at Club Paris in Anchorage were both great. Even if dining onboard is wonderful, it is nice to have a change of scenery and the food at both places was very good.

The best part of the whale watching excursion (through Liquid Alaska, Juneau tours) was seeing 6 whales and learning so much about them.  I don't have a good photo of a whale breaching but here are some of my travel companions dressed for the weather.

The best part of the cruise itself was seeing the Hubbard Glacier.  With some knowledge of art and colors, I was familiar with the color "glacier blue" but seeing the actual source...oh my!

The weather changed before our eyes. Mist, then clear. Dark clouds, then a bright haze.

I think the one block of time I enjoyed the most was the scenic train from Seward to Anchorage. Seward was where we disembarked at 6:00 AM. Our return flight home was later that day from Anchorage. A shuttle would have taken us there in a shorter amount of time but the almost 6-hour train ride was lovely. My son and I were part of a travel group of six, but each of the three family pairs were seated across from other passengers. Our travel mates were a couple from Texas that had traveled extensively and were great conversationalists. Breakfast on the train was reasonably priced and good. The information shared by the tour guide was excellent.

 

I didn't think to take a photo of the train before we got on or immediately afterward. Getting up at 5:00 AM may have had something to do with that. If anyone knows Thomas the Train videos, doesn't this conductor remind you of Sir Topham Hatt?

Traveling can teach us so much about things we aware of in other parts of our country or the world, and also makes us appreciate what we have at home. No matter how comfortable your lodgings were, is there anything better than your own bed and pillow after a week or more away?

Kool Aid kid became a card maker

What happens when a Kool-Aid kid grows up and likes to make crafts? She becomes a Kool-Aid embosser!

I didn't create this technique and don't remember where I first saw it. I mixed dry Kool-Aid from the packet with embossing powder. I didn't measure, but I'd guess that I used a 1 to 3 or maybe 1 to 4 ration of Kool-Aid to embossing powder. The Kool-Aid isn't there to emboss, it is there to add a scent.

I used the lemon slice and wedge stamp first on white paper (lower left, upper two images). They are from Stamps of Life. That didn't leave much Kool-Aid on the paper as the images were outlines. Same thing with the stamp from Inky Antics on that same piece of paper. On those attempts, I used yellow embossing powder, lemon Kool-Aid, and yellow ink on the stamp.

I added white embossing powder to the yellow in a small paper cup and added a bit more Kool-Aid before stamping on light yellow cardstock. It still didn't look right to me so I added white pencil to the areas between the segments and yellow pencil on the segments. Better, but not truly lemony and not much area for scent.

I tried using a thick white embossing powder next, the upper right image in the group photo. I don't know if I held the heat too long in the area that looks like crystals have burned or if that was a clump of Kool-Aid that wasn't evenly mixed with embossing powder. 

I got out a strawberry stamp, also from Stamps of Life, stamped the large and small berry with Stampin' Up Real Red ink, then embossed with a mixture of clear embossing powder that has a bit of sparkle in it with strawberry Kool-Aid. I used a white gel pen for the spots on the berry but they are a bit lost. The scent is much better because of the larger surface area.

I could probably turn the strawberry panel into a card but I want to work on the seeds first. Maybe a paint pen is the answer. 

What I like about the scents created with Kool-Aid is that there is a hint of the fruit smell, not an overwhelming cloud of it hitting you in the face like the candle or oil aisle in some stores.

I have grape, orange and tropical punch to play with and I'm suddenly thinking rainbows and unicorns. With a 3-year old granddaughter, this sounds perfect!

When we extend this product to become a craft supply, we'll never outgrow our need for Kool-Aid!

Koi stamp used for an anniversary card

I've had the Hero Arts Color Layering Koi stamp set for a while but didn't use it until yesterday when I made an anniversary card.

It was not difficult to use and while my layering was not perfect, it wasn't off by much and I liked the result. 

My first layer was stamped with Stampin' Up's Daffodil Delight ink, the second layer was Stampin' Up's Peekaboo Peach, the third layer was a Hero Arts ink cube that came in a kit and I don't know the name. It was a reddish orange which I lightly stamped on scrap paper before bringing it to the fish. Black was used on the small stamp for the eyes and mouth. The seaweed (?) is from another Hero Arts stamp,  Color Layering Goldfish. I used Stampin' Up Lost Lagoon ink on the seaweed, some full strength, some stamped onto scrap paper first. 

The koi were mounted on Lost Lagoon cardstock, then placed on the card base. The front of the card was stamped in Lost Lagoon ink on Simon Says Stamp's Beach Waves. 

The inside of the card simply says Happy Anniversary with room for a personal message. I liked the peace, harmony and love sentiment from the koi set. I considered adding "wishing you" at the top of the card but preferred just the clear bubble embellishments.